Pratt cowboy wins third steer roping world championship

Rocky Patterson knew he needed to be fast. The 2012 Steer Roping World Championship depended on it.

Ted Harbin

Rocky Patterson knew he needed to be fast. The 2012 Steer Roping World Championship depended on it.

Patterson was. He posted a 10.3-second run to win the 10th go-round at the Clem McSpadden National Finals Steer Roping and outlast Trevor Brazile by $418 to win his third Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Championship. What's impressive is that Patterson has won them all in the last four years.

What's more impressive is that the Pratt, Kan., cowboy dominated Saturday night in the final five rounds of the two-day competition.

"This is the closest race in years," said announcer Charlie Throckmorton, who called the action at his 13th NFSR this weekend. "This is the way it's supposed to be."

Patterson had held the world standings lead since the fourth go-round, but had two no-times on Friday night. That nearly took him out of contention to place in the top five in the 10-round aggregate race. Brazile, who won the average with 131.7 seconds on 10 runs, held a distinct advantage – as the average winner, the Decatur, Texas, cowboy pocketed a bonus of $15,231.

Patterson was the last roper to compete Saturday night knowing he needed to win the final go-round and hope he earned an average check if he were to catch Brazile. Patterson's 10.3 did both – he finished fifth in the average – making that single run worth $8,308.

"A guy always dreams of winning the first one," said Patterson, 46, who won his first Montana Silversmiths gold buckle in 2009. "Anytime you get to compete in the same arena as Trevor Brazile is a privilege and to be able to come out on top is unbelievable.

"I think knowing how fast I had to be helped, because I don't rope as fast as some of the guys normally, so I knew I had to go at him."

Patterson placed in seven go-rounds and won three. In fact, he placed in all five rounds on Saturday night, winning two. Of his $29,731, more than $21,000 came on the final night.

"That's just great competition," said Brazile, a 16-time World Champion who leads the all-around standings heading to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December. "When everyone executes, it's where the chips fall. I was more proud of my performance this week as I have ever been. I feel like I executed better this week, and I don't feel like I left on the table."

"At the end of the day, I have no regrets. My hat's off to Rocky. That was a lot of pressure he had to overcome as well."

The NFSR was a four-man race from the start, including the year-end leader Cody Lee of Gatesville, Texas, and third-place finisher Vin Fisher Jr. of Andrews, Texas. When Lee faltered through the rugged 10 rounds, the other three remained tightly knitted. It came down to the final round to decide the world title.

Of course, it helped that Patterson had roped lights out all night long.

"Everybody knew Trevor was in the lead coming in tonight," Patterson said. "You can spend a lot of your time worrying about Trevor when you don't need to, because Trevor is going to take care of Trevor. He's not going to mess up, so you just have to take care of yourself."

Brazile and Mike Chase of McAlester, Okla., are the only two cowboys to rope and tie down all 10 steers. The result was Brazile's first NFSR average championship.

"That was great competition that came down to the wire," Brazile said. "I hope the steer roping fans turned out, because they would've missed a good one if they didn't."